Guilty plea for Mass. trucker following fatal Conn. accident

Published 10:38 am, Friday, January 10, 2014

WATERBURY >> A tractor-trailer driver from Massachusetts has pleaded guilty in connection with a chain reaction crash on Interstate 84 in western Connecticut that killed a 41-year-old woman.

The Republican-American reports that 24-year-old Juan Martinez of Springfield, Mass., pleaded guilty to misdemeanor negligent homicide Thursday in Waterbury Superior Court. He was freed after being sentenced to time served, after having been held on $150,000 bail since July.

State police say Martinez caused a pileup on I-84 in Middlebury in November 2012 that killed 41-year-old Laurie Carvalho of North Attleborough, Mass.

Troopers say Martinez’s tractor-trailer crashed into the rear of Carvalho’s SUV, which was crushed and caught fire. Several other cars were demolished and nine people were hospitalized.